Frame Your Child's Art

Here's a fun and arty way to make your child's paintings or drawings look like an art collection. All you need is a kid to make you some art (in my case, my niece), a quick trip to a store that sells frames (on sale is better) and a little bit of time.

Framing Supplies:

• Child's drawings/paintings/art
• Frames
• Pre-cut mats (I like to buy the frames on sale at Michaels that come with mats)
• Tape
• Scissors (if you need to cut the paintings to fit)

If you need to cut the drawings to fit into the frames (my niece had painted me some pictures on randomly-sized paper) then go ahead and use the mats to frame the portion you want, then cut to size.

Obviously if you're planning this in advance, have your child draw a picture on paper that's that size you want...then you don't have to lose any of the art.




Fix the painting in place on the back with Scotch tape, then assemble the frame.




Voilà! A cool and very relevant art collection.








*Photography by Sarah B. Danks*

Homemade Powdered Laundry Detergent

My friend's been making her own liquid laundry soap for a couple years – at first I thought this was weird, then I realized just how exorbitantly priced commercial laundry detergent is and thought, "she's on to something" – but it seemed like such a long process to make it that I never got into it.

While home this weekend, my mom shocked me by showing me HER new laundry soap: a homemade, easy and quick, do-it-yourself powder that takes only minutes to make.

DIY Laundry Soap

Recipe Ingredients:

• 3 bars Fels-Naptha soap
• 1 ½ cups washing soda
• 1 ½ cups 20 Mule Team Borax

How To Make Detergent:

• Grate the soap with a cheese or hand grater
• Mix all ingredients thoroughly
• Store in covered container

To Use in Laundry:

• Use 2 tablespoons per normal load of laundry; 3 TBLS for heavily-soiled loads
• Note: this laundry soap will not make many suds
• Safe to use in High Efficiency (HE) washers
• When using this laundry detergent, you might find it's necessary to use less fabric softener (or none at all)
• Make sure to stir the powdered detergent thoroughly before each use to ensure you're getting all three ingredients in each scoop

I used this wonderful, homemade laundry detergent for a few loads of laundry and everything came out smelling clean, fresh and was very soft (even the laundry items I line-dried). I will now be making my own laundry soap from here on out! Now to get The Husband on board...




*Photo by Sarah B. Danks*